In the packaging of heavy home appliances, for example dishwashers, refrigerators, ranges and the like, a preferred procedure utilizes spaced support posts, normally at the corners of the appliance, which extend at least the full height of the appliance and are in turn enclosed by a protective sleeve or carton of corrugated cardboard. Heavy duty plastic wrap can also be used.
It is the support or corner posts themselves which protect the appliance against damage at the more vulnerable edges of the product with the packaging sleeve of corrugated cardboard or the like stabilizing and assisting in maintaining the position of the corner posts, while at the same time also protecting the product against incidental scratches, dents, and the like during shipping and storage.
Corner posts of the type herein involved are conventionally formed of convolutely wound paperboard tubes which are transversely formed to the desired post configuration. Such tube-formed support posts are considered particularly desirable in light of the substantial strength achieved and the economies derived from both using an inexpensive basic material and simplified manufacturing procedures requiring only the controlled deformation of a conventionally formed convolute tube prior to a final curing of the resins or adhesives between the plies of paperboard.
A preferred form of such a tube will be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,651, commonly assigned with the present invention. While the support post of this patent constitutes a significant advance over what had gone before, as specifically detailed in the patent, particular appliances have been found to require support post protection beyond that provided by the patented post. More particularly, and as an example a refrigerator may include, outward of the main structural box, a projecting door handle to the front thereof and an external mounted condenser on the back. The "L" post of the prior patent normally does not, in itself, provide sufficient clearage for such projecting components. Rather, it has been found necessary to provide additional cushioning, for example utilizing two stacked prior art posts to extend beyond and accommodate the projecting components. This could affect the stability of the support system and clearly increases material and handling costs.